Walks Into Lift Arms at Work

Thanks to @RaggedGT I have a new (to me) Custom Autosounds Mustang radio for it. This has been added to the ever-growing collection of parts that never seem to actually get installed.

The new fuel tank, used fuel filler neck, new grommet, and new fuel sending unit are all ready to install, but waiting on the right combination of energy left after working four nights with an hour commute on either end, weather (for instance, it's raining and in the 30s today, **** that, nothing's happening to a project car sitting in the driveway in that weather), and other crap that's more important not coming up. Right now, the "more important crap" includes needing to do the tune-up and other 90K maintenance on the Toyota I've been putting off for the last several weeks, installing the new Monster transmission in my dad's Suburban (his original 4L60E suffered catastrophic failure on the highway while towing a trailer a couple weeks ago), and installing new rear shocks on my mom's Taurus (I'm starting to REALLY hate that car).

I've found a glass guy down in Austin that specializes in classic car windshields to do the front an rear windshields correctly in my car (they were kind of installed badly by whoever the previous owner used) so that I won't have windshield adhesive actively oozing anymore. This is back-burnered pending the fuel tank installation.

The water pump is still leaking, haven't taken the 2 hours or so to R&R that damned thing again.

It hasn't been driven in two months, but I did start it two weeks ago, still runs great, still runs way too rich off idle because the MSD Atomic sucks balls, but hey, I should've known better than to buy a fuel system from "Mostly Starts Dammit Ignition Systems".

Walks Into Lift Arms at Work

False alarm... opened the door to the damned thing, reached into the back seat to grab one of the parts I was going to do something with today, and cut my damned arm open on a sharp edge in the gutted interior. Cussed, threw the part back down, locked the car, said "**** it" and came back inside.

Then I went back outside after the bleeding stopped, opened the hood, looked at the incredible amount of leaves that have accumulated under there thanks to the cowl hood, noticed not a damned one of them came from a tree in my yard, said "**** it" again, and shut the hood.

Then I took a good look at the paint, paint that I spent an entire day with a buffer and polishing compound to bring back to being "30-footer-if-you-squint-real-damned-hard" from the totally faded and chalky it was when I started, and realized it just might be worse than it was before I buffed it now that two years have passed. Grabbed a towel and some polishing compound, polished on the fender a bit, and realized "screw it, I really just don't want to deal with this damned thing today." and went back in the house.

Haven't had time to sell the damned thing, been busy dealing with this:

Spent all day Saturday on my back under my dad's Suburban wrestling out the "original" 4L60E that took a on him while pulling a trailer back on January 26th. I say "original" because we discovered during the removal process that we weren't the first ones in there (sloppy/lazy GM techs leave all sorts of clues, like a missing bellhousing bolt, and none of the electrical connector retainers put back through), and that the transmission and torque converter we took out were built 14 months after the truck itself (meaning it had a failure under warranty with it's original owner). Doesn't really matter, my dad bought the thing back in the mid 2000s and has put at least 120k miles of the 166k miles the truck has on it, so he got his money's worth from the original trans (for a piece of 4L60E anyway). All sorts of glitter in the fluid from the old one, and debris in the torque converter. The new Monster trans and Thor converter were filled and fired last night, we'll be going on a test drive with the 4Runner as the chase vehice at sunrise.

Speaking of the 4Runner, it's a freaking beast. Hooked the tow strap from it's hitch to the Suburban's frame to pull it up onto ramps. I put the 4Runner in 4-Low and took the slack out of the strap, and waited for my dad to tell me when to pull it. My dad gave me the signal to go, but forgot to take the Suburban out of park, I drug the Suburban up and onto the ramps with the rear wheels locked up like it was nothing. I love that little 'yota. It's cargo area also made a bitchin' work station for the transmission job on the Chevy.

What happens to the II isn't set in stone yet. I've got a standing offer from a friend that wants the thing, and knowing him, he'll actually drive the hell out of it (he drives his antique Ford pickup, classic BMW, and his new BMW regularly), so I may call him sometime this week and see how serious he is and how much money he's talking.

I know the feeling. You gotta do what you gotta do, but don't sell it solely out of frustration. Trust me, I get it! I have had my dad's 55 Chevy for over 30 years and haven't done a damned thing to it. Partially because it intimidates me because it needs SO much work and isn't going to be cheap, partially because it was my dad's and I really didn't have a solid direction for a long time. There have been times that I thought about selling it, but when I'm asked the answer is always no. I know that if I ever did sell it, 1) my family would NEVER let me live it down, and 2) I would kick myself in the ass for the rest of my natural life. Life gets in the way EVERY time I even THINK of starting something on it. That's how life goes. But I also have an emotional attachment to mine, I learned a lot of stuff working with my dad on this particular car. Now I know your situation is different, but if it's something that you truly enjoy, don't sell it out of frustration alone. I know it's not a 55 Chevy, but they're also not as plentiful as they once were. Just my 2 cents, you can keep the change!

We installed the thing on March 12, as I posted before. Did everything by the book, hell, I even torqued the bellhousing bolts to spec. Flushed the cooler and lines, upgraded to the Derale cooler in place of the factory auxilliary cooler as recommended by Monster Transmission, fresh case of Dexron VI fluid, whole nine yards.

We test drove it on March 13 a total of 15 miles or so with me following in the 4Runner. No smoke, leaks, drips, slippage, or any other issues. Checked the fluid at three different stops along the way and let it sit and idle for awhile before checking it one last time, fluid level was perfect.

My dad went to go to a meeting in Waco with it, and didn't make it the 45 miles to the meeting before the "trans fluid hot" warning showed up on his dash. He let it cool off in a parking lot for awhile, then gently drove it back home. The "trans fluid hot" message didn't return, but the check engine light came on. I brought my scanner home from work the next morning and pulled a P1870 (transmission slippage) code.

We called Monster, and they wouldn't even talk warranty because they hadn't received our core yet. We wait for a week for the core to get there, down a vehicle yet again, and then they finally contact us back. Their "3-year handshake WOWanty" is as follows:

Monster Transmission and Performance will pay $50 hr labor and will supply the necessary parts needed for the repair at no cost to you or the client if needed.

If you have access to the parts needed, Monster Transmission & Performance may, at our option, permit you to use comparable parts from your inventory. Please submit the part, as well as the price of the part(s) for review/approval.

Please send an estimate via email for repair prior to performing any work to the unit. As previously stated, we do not pay the following:

Diagnostics

Hazardous Waste removal

Removal & Installation

Shop fees

Storage

If I'd read that particular bit of fine print before ordering, I would've ordered from somewhere else, but they make sure that's buried hell-and-gone on their website, and not anywhere near where you're looking at their transmissions.

We take it to a transmission shop I've done business with before, pay out-of-pocket for diag, and their diag is that the transmission is fried due to improper assembly, that it's slipping in 2nd and 4th and isn't locking up the converter. Their only recommendation is replacement or rebuild.

So we call Monster, and they want US to pay round-trip freight on a defective unit THEY shipped us. My dad gets them to agree to pay half (if I'd been on the phone instead that wouldn't have happened, they would've been paying all), so I spent yesterday afternoon yanking their junk rebuild out of the Suburban.